More than 3.5 million (!!!) Canadians entered the United States in March 2025. Yet, polls show that many Canadians are “afraid” to enter due to border issues… and this is just not justified at all, objectively! At least, certainly not for those who have a Canadian passport and who are making a normal leisure/tourism trip or a transit (which is the vast majority of travelers).
To be very clear: of course, you can boycott the United States. Long live freedom! You should always go (or *not* go) wherever you want. And Trump is doing a lot of stupid things, of course!
However, we must still be clear that being afraid to enter the United States… that’s really not a good reason not to go. As for the other reasons… that’s up to each responsible adult and has nothing to do with travel. But the fear of the border deserves to be debunked.
Here are our 4 experiences entering the United States in recent weeks (including yesterday and last week), why they’re not even relevant, and many other explanations on this controversial topic.
How was it to enter the United States as Canadians this week?
This won’t be a popular article, but as always, Flytrippers will say things as they are and share the real objective facts. And also our explanations of the situation; we do have a very extensive expertise on borders and travel!!!
There is really a lot to say on this subject:
- Experienced travelers know that the risks are never as high
- As the impression given in the media (very basic thing)
- No U.S. rules have changed (they’re the same as under Biden and Obama)
- The rules can be more strictly enforced rules
- But these existing rules are not outrageous at all
- Many other countries have the same rules
- Problematic situations at the border are extremely rare
- Again: 3.5M Canadians entered the U.S. in March 2025
- Problematic situations were already happening before
- I was once questioned for 1 hour… when Obama was president
- Problematic situations almost never happen regular tourists
- Not regular leisure/tourism trips or transits
But I’ll start by telling you exactly how it was when we entered the United States ourselves, because many people like it when we (both of us Flytrippers co-founders) share our concrete experiences.
Here are our 2 most recent entries, yesterday and last week:
- Andrew: May 5th in Montreal (YUL)
- For a conference on credit cards
- It was booked last year; I go every year
- Kevin: May 2nd in Los Angeles (LAX)
- To visit his girlfriend’s family
- She is American; he is a real traitor to our nation!!!
Both were therefore entries by air; an entry at U.S. customs pre-clearance in a Canadian airport and an entry at normal U.S. customs at an American airport.
Here’s how it went:
- Exactly like the dozens of other times we’ve entered the United States over the years
- Regardless of the president
No difference.
Obviously. Nothing surprising.
That’s the case for almost all leisure/tourism trips (I repeat: 3.5 million Canadians entered the U.S. just in the month of March).
How was it to enter the United States in March?
I also entered the United States 2 other times for connections at the beginning and end of my trip to Asia in March, when the tariff craze was at its peak.
If you travel a bit, you know that sterile transits don’t exist in the United States; you have to completely enter the country, just as if it were your final destination.
(When you want to find luxurious lie-flat business class pod seats worth $4000 for just 75,000 Aeroplan points for a 13-hour flight, it really gives you a lot more choices by not excluding the United States, which has 10X more flights and 10X more seats!)
These 2 entries were also at a Canadian airport and an American airport.
How did those go? Exactly as usual, too.
Ask anyone you know that has been to the U.S. recently and it’s a lot more likely to be the same response than anything else. It’s like when people are scared of going to Colombia (or any other safe country): of course they’ve never been there themselves! If they had, they wouldn’t be scared…
Why are our personal experiences (and stories from the fear campaign) not relevant?
If you’re a savvy traveler, you’re thinking:
“But your personal experiences are really anecdotal!”
OF COURSE!!!
Just like the microscopic and completely insignificant sample of the few unfortunate border stories that the media amplifies because it allows them to do their favorite thing in the world, which is to talk about Trump.
All of this is extremely anecdotal.
(The stories that have been publicized are unfortunate situations… but they happened even before Trump, like my own experience in an interrogation room at the U.S. customs at the land border under Obama! And above all… these are situations that all won’t happen to you if you’re making a normal tourist trip, and I’ll explain below!!!)
What is not anecdotal, and what is factual and objective, is that 3.5 million Canadians entered the United States in March 2025, according to Statistics Canada.
If there were frequent problems at all, we would know about it, clearly. Don’t worry; the media would talk about it each time, as they do now. It would be pretty obvious if there was even a slightly present risk.
That’s not the case.
It is therefore not relevant to rely on anything other than the facts, whether it’s our experiences or the very isolated cases that are used in the media for a fear campaign that allows them to ride the very popular current anti-Trump wave.
(A wave that greatly benefits the media due to the nature of their industry, which runs on drama, crises, and yes… fear! I’m not saying it’s their fault, but that’s just factually how it is! Happy and positive stories aren’t often in the news…)
The sample of our own experiences at least has the advantage of being representative of the experience of almost all Canadian travelers, unlike the very isolated cases that are absolutely not representative and that won’t happen to you for a normal leisure/tourism trip!
What is the real risk level of entering the United States?
All seasoned travelers know that in the world of travel, the real risk is always lower than the impression you get from the media. Or at least, all seasoned travelers *should* know that!
But sadly, one of the most significant findings we can make after 8 years of helping travelers full-time with Flytrippers is that, objectively, most people are absolutely terrible at contextualizing risk levels.
It’s not the end of the world at all… but it’s still true. To get better (which everyone should obviously want), you need to start by knowing *what* to improve.
More than 100,000 Canadians PER DAY entered the United States in March. Imagine all the other nationalities too. Think rationally about the level of risk that the few isolated cases that were reported represent (and I repeat that even those don’t apply to normal leisure/tourism trips anyway).
Fear is the normal response to the unknown; that’s fine. Getting more information (like the 3.5M stat) is how to get over the fear.
In short, the risk level hasn’t really materially changed since Trump has been there. It’s still so low.
It’s really obvious that it’s statistically almost certainly not going to be problematic to enter the United States if you have a Canadian passport and you’re making a normal leisure/tourism trip. You can feel reassured and definitely not be afraid.
Why is entering the United States for tourism/leisure travel not problematic?
Here are the basis of U.S. entry rules:
- No U.S. entry rules have changed
- Enforcement of rules may be stricter
- None of these rules are problematic for you anyway
- If you have a Canadian passport
- If you’re traveling for tourism/leisure
Here’s the most important thing about the rules:
- These rules could already be enforced before Trump
- If you encountered a zealous customs officer (it happens)
- These rules exist in many other countries, too
- It’s really nothing outrageous
The reality is that, like many countries, the United States is very afraid of 2 things (and has ALWAYS been very afraid of these 2 things):
- That a traveler will stay in the United States and never leave
- That a traveler will work while in the United States
If you’re doing a normal tourism/leisure trip, it won’t be a problem at all.
Really not.
Here’s what you can do to very easily avoid any problems regarding this:
- Book your return flight and all your accommodations before entering the United States
- Don’t tell them anything that might make them think you’re going to work while in the U.S. or that you won’t leave the U.S.
Simple. These are things that the vast majority of tourism/leisure travelers already do anyway, which is why they have no problems at the border.
Because it shows that you’re not a risk for the 2 things the country doesn’t like.
And I can assure you it’s not since Trump has been there that they’ve been afraid of these 2 things; I was questioned at length myself under Obama because of the work angle.
And I can assure you they’re not the only country that doesn’t like these 2 things; I’ve had many similar situations in the 75+ countries I’ve visited as a digital semi-nomad. It’s well-known amongst our community: always say you are there for tourism, never mention anything about working remotely. That’s a basic rule that you needed to follow before Trump and that you’ll need to follow after Trump (and in all other countries).
That said, it doesn’t even mean it will be problematic if you don’t book anything in advance: I haven’t yet purchased my return flight, and they didn’t care yesterday (they didn’t ask for proof of accommodation either). I’m a NEXUS member, so that certainly helps. And if you’re worried about the border, you should definitely join the program too; it’s purely awesome, even without going to the U.S.!
Next, what seems to cause even more fear is the fear of being detained by customs officers.
In the very unfortunate case of the German female travelers that went most viral (they were denied entry because they mentioned working remotely from the U.S.), it’s worth saying that it was THEM who chose not to leave right away when their entry was denied. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been detained!
And anyway, as Canadians, being detained is just not even an issue:
- By air, you clear customs in a Canadian airport (pre-clearance)
- By land, you clear customs at the Canadian border
In both cases, if your entry is denied, you will not be detained. You’re in Canada so you can just go back home. If you live in Saskatoon, Québec City, or another city with a small airport that doesn’t have U.S. pre-clearance, simply book a flight that has a connection in a major Canadian airport if that reassures you.
Finally, there’s the issue of cell phone searches. It’s rare enough that it’s really not worth stressing about, and the U.S. government has even somewhat confirmed that having anti-Trump messages on your cell phone shouldn’t be enough to deny you entry.
If it really stresses you out, you can delete the apps just to get through customs, but it really shouldn’t be a problem.
Now if you don’t have a Canadian passport or are entering for a reason other than tourism or transiting, there’s just not enough data about that for me to comment. But again, I’d still not really be worried honestly.
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Summary
More than 3.5 million Canadians entered the United States in March 2025. If there were really frequent problems, you would have heard about more than a few isolated cases that have nothing to do with normal leisure/tourism trips. Each case is unfortunate, but they are objectively situations that have always occurred… that are just of interest to the media now because it allows them to talk about Trump.
What would you like to know about what it’s like to enter the U.S. as a Canadian? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: U.S. customs (photo credit: Andrew D’Amours/Flytrippers)
Valuation $1025